PG Honors Giant Eagle as 2016 Retailer of the Year

Progressive Grocer has selected Pittsburgh-based multiformat retailer Giant Eagle Inc. as its 2016 Retailer of the Year, the leading retail grocery trade publication’s highest honor, bestowed annually in its October issue.

As one of the 40 largest privately held companies in the United States and standing at No. 16 on Progressive Grocer’s Super 50 ranking of the nation’s leading food retailers, Giant Eagle exhibits many hallmarks of a company setting the pace for its peers, including continued strategic expansion; multiformat store designs tailored to specific community needs; an expanding focus on culinary, wellness and convenience-oriented offerings; demonstrated investments in technology, infrastructure and logistics; an ongoing commitment to providing quality goods to consumers hungry for value; and extraordinary success and leadership not only in the industry, but also in local communities.

“For these important reasons, and numerous others, PG is proud to recognize the extended Giant Eagle family – including its pioneering corporate visionaries, dedicated corporate support teams and thousands of outstanding store associates – as our 2016 Retailer of the Year,” said PG Chief Content Editor Meg Major. “Having last recognized Giant Eagle way back in 2002 with our publication’s most important annual honor, which is bestowed annually to one select retailer that’s doing a series of remarkable things to fortify and further enhance its brand, we felt the time was irrefutably right to recognize the strides the regional chain has made in the intervening years.”

To be sure, the industry has seen dramatic change in the past 14 years. The same can be said of 420-store Giant Eagle, continued Major, which has gone on to build one of the most effective and impressive multiformat strategies in the business, including grocery and convenience stores, fuel centers and in-store pharmacies.

“While officials from the regional food, fuel and pharmacy retailer are fiercely proud of its vibrant heritage and superior track record, they’re equally enthusiastic about perpetuating their diverse and dynamic organization by adhering to the foundational threads woven into Giant Eagle’s DNA,” said PG Editor-in-Chief Jim Dudlicek, noting that those inherent qualities include its strong values, innovation and constant drive to reinvent itself for shoppers in a changing marketplace.

PG’s full Retailer of the Year profile story will appear in its upcoming October 2016 issue, while senior members of its staff will join with Giant Eagle officials for a formal presentation of the honor in early October.